Page 15 - npqh NATIONAL POLICY FOR QUALITY IN HEALTHCARE : Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements 2022-2026

National Policy for Quality in Healthcare
Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements

Acknowledgement

The Ministry of Health is truly indebted to many partners, individuals and organisations that
have helped to shape this National Policy for Quality in Healthcare. We thank the stakeholders
at all levels within the Ministry of Health, public universities, private sectors, professional
associations and organisations as well as the public. Their thoughts and insights on the current
state of quality in Malaysia and the way forward, were shared through multiple engagement
sessions conducted consisting of large and small group discussions, a survey as well as other
forums.
The Ministry of Health highly acknowledges the Technical Working Group steered by the
Institute for Health Systems Research for working tirelessly in putting this document together,
right from the conceptual planning, conducting the situational analysis, the initial drafting
and the subsequent reviews leading to the finalisation of this document. In addition, special
gratitude towards the Innovation Steering Committee, members of the KPK Khas Meeting,
the Quality Assurance/Improvement Committee and the Quality Assurance/Improvement
Technical Committee for their supervisory efforts, guidance and support.

We would like to express our appreciation and acknowledge the technical expert contribution
of Prof Dr Bruce Agins from the Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California
San Francisco who had been assigned as the project consultant. He had assisted us since
we embarked on this journey, which commenced with the inception meeting, followed by
conceptually designing the situational analysis component, facilitating the first stakeholder’s
engagement session and finally, the several rounds of reviewing and refining the policy draft.
We also wish to recognise the valuable contribution of Dr Shams Syed, Head of Unit, Quality of
Care, WHO Headquarters Geneva, who played a significant role at two points; the first was at the
planning stage, when we had a one-day session to learn and plan the process in taking forward
the task of developing this policy, and the second was his critical review on the policy draft.

We would also like to express gratitude to the WHO Office Malaysia, under the leadership
of Dr Lo Ying-Ru Jacqueline, Head of Mission and WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei
Darussalam and Singapore, for their financial support in engaging a technical expert for this
project.

We also acknowledge Datin Dr Siti Haniza Mahmud’s contribution for reviewing the initial draft
of this document twice and IHSR’s internal reviewers team; Dr Zalilah Abdullah, Dr Shakirah
Md Sharif and Dr Nurul Iman Jamalul-lail in providing constructive feedback for improvement.
We are hopeful that this document will be used by all actors in the health sector to ensure
harmonisation of existing quality improvement initiatives, in working towards the shared
national aim of institutionalising quality across all levels of Malaysia’s health system.

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